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Monday, September 28, 2015

Moving on slowly but surely

After wrecking my head for a few weeks with trying to figure out websites, domain registration, hosting and all of that, this evening I finally made a step forward. Two really. I have registered the two website names that I wanted (one simply my name, one with a translations focus) and I've signed up for hosting. A few people suggested self-hosting but from what I've read about it, it would be beyond my current capabilities and I simply don't have the time (or inclination) to do that at the moment. The five euro a month charge for hosting will be more than worth it to me. A web developer friend has offered to build me a website at a substantially reduced rate but that will have to wait until the business has made enough money to cover the cost. Until then I'll figure out something very basic with my contact information and that will do. The main thing will be getting the email set up. Once I've done that, I will go ahead and order business cards. And that will be more than enough outgoings for one month.

So things are slowly moving forward. I got a rush job in from a contact who runs a translation agency late last Monday and stayed up very late doing that. Need to meet him soon to confirm rates and payment but it was a good opportunity as it was a new client for him and if they were happy with this job, they would be moving all of this particular business to him. And he, in turn, would give me the largest part of that work. I'd be happy with that. I approached him at an event during the summer to see about getting some work and offered to do a test translation for him. He phoned me a few weeks ago to see if I could do a short legal paragraph, again at short notice. I offered to get it done during my lunch break that day and did so. When we met a few days later and he said we should talk about money, I told him the first one could be free so long as he gave me a second one. So that piece of cheekiness seems to have worked out so far. We'll see how it goes. Working for an agency doesn't generally pay well at all and working directly for clients would pay nearly double what most agencies offer but starting out it's certainly an easier way to build up experience.

I'm now also registered with the national association of translators and listed in their directory, which will hopefully bring in work, too. Side-business seems to be officially up and running.

Thanks. I'm really finding myself caught between wanting to do all of the peripheral stuff (marketing, website, accounts, admin basically) really well and wanting to just get down to, you know, actual work. The stuff I'll get paid for! So glad that translating is one of those things that belongs to a class of professions that doesn't require you to actually register a business with the tax office here. I just have to declare the income in my annual tax return. And make sure to try and stay under about €17,000 of turnover per year - after that you are required to be registered for VAT, have to charge VAT, do monthly or quarterly tax returns (and pay in advance based on your estimates). Definitely one great reason to keep this very much as a side business and small scale! Thank you for the support. You're right, lots of people never even get this far and I should remember that.

That is fantastic, congratulations! That's a brilliant side-business - it's 'in demand' work and with a regular client list, there should be lots of work. I also like the fact you can pick and choose jobs depending on how much time you have available, so it works in with other employment. Very exciting!

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About Me

Fortysomething living in Germany since 2008. When not struggling with depression I'm trying to get rid of the last of some stupidly incurred debt and move my way towards a more independent life. One in which I know how to do most things for myself and am not reliant on paying others/shops just to cover the basics of life.
Yes, I blog anonymously. No, I don't always reply to comments - not because I don't appreciate them, just because sometimes it's too much, sometimes I just have nothing to say, sometimes just because - please don't take it personally.